Cross-species signaling

One of the conundrums of language is why an individual would give away information. Humans appear desperate to tell people about things. Animals, on the other hand, aren’t that interested in communicating beyond basic signalling for survival. However, the wildlife video below points out another problem: Even if an animal has a desire to communicate, others might not want to listen.

This video captures the difficulty of trying to make yourself understood through arbitrary signalling systems, and the relative ease of gesture.

Something I didn’t know was that Hedgehog spines, as well as being protective, evolved so that they can be vibrated as a form of signalling.